Be they locally based nonprofit organizations or informal neighborhood groups, people in a community can join forces to improve their home. In April 2024, Sustainable Finger Lakes awarded a total of $1,443.58 in five Neighborhood Mini-Grants to organizations and community groups in Tompkins County.
Cayuga Meadows Community Garden, a group of residents at the Conifer Village at Cayuga Meadows senior apartment complex on Ithaca’s West Hill, have created an onsite garden of herbs, flowers, and vegetables. It supplements their food sources, builds community, and improves quality of life, but many of them have impaired mobility or other limitations and struggle with the labor of tending it. A Neighborhood Mini-Grant will allow them to buy a “senior safe” wheelbarrow and weeder, which will make it easier and safer for them to garden.
The Brooktondale Community Center seeks to repair and improve a gazebo on their property and relocate it alongside their popular public walking trail as a place for people to rest while enjoying a safe walk in a hamlet with no sidewalks. A Neighborhood Mini-Grant will support this volunteer-run project by helping to pay for cedar shakes to replace the gazebo’s rotten roofing.
Open Doors English, an Ithaca organization whose adult English as a Second Language classes build equity in access to services, careers, and communities, seeks to create a lending library of books for their students. A Neighborhood Mini-Grant will pay for a library cart to transport the collection between classrooms.
Cornell on Fire, founded in 2023, is a climate justice coalition of people from the Cornell and Ithaca communities, calling for major changes at Cornell University and supporting other local initiatives promoting environmental harm reduction and accountability in combination with justice and equity. A Neighborhood Mini-Grant will help this new organization to thrive and grow by paying five months of their website domain fees.
Newfield Writes, a community group, is running their second year of a poetry contest for Newfield children and teens, with gift card prizes, a compilation book of contest entries, and a “zero-waste” celebration featuring recyclable or compostable dishware. The contest offers all local youth an opportunity to express their voices widely in their community and allows student volunteers to build valuable skills as they help to organize, fund, publicize, and run the contest and celebration. A Neighborhood Mini-Grant will help pay for the food at the celebration.
The Neighborhood Mini-Grant Program provides seed money to diverse initiatives to build environmental, economic, and social resilience and well-being in Tompkins County. The program is supported by Craig Riecke, the Park Foundation, and local donors. The next deadline to apply for a Mini-Grant is October 1, 2024. To request an application or learn more, email sasha@sustainablefingerlakes.org.
